Wow, that 1989 one was almost painful to watch and listen to. I think I much prefer the modern Morse. Of course, I'm sure he was just trying to make it as a musician, and it's sad what someone with his talent was forced to do back then to make ends meet.

As to his hair, it was much longer around the time of the first two Spock's albums. There used to be a couple Youtubes from 1995 and 1996 that were interesting to watch (in one he's drinking a beer before the song starts).

The new issue of UK Magazine "Classic Rock Presents Prog" has not only a
Flying Colors track on the free cd, but also the results of the annual
Readers' Poll. Neal has numbers 3 & 4 Best DVD's for More is Never
Enough and Testimony 2 Live, Number 3 best Keyboard Player (behind
Jordan Rudess and Rick Wakeman) and Number 4 Prog Icon (behind Steven
Wilson, Peter Gabriel and Mike Portnoy.

There's also quite a glowing review of T2 Live, and some amazing news:

In
an interview with Mike Portnoy, he says that Transatlantic are trying
to find space in their schedules to record in 2012. I suggest we each
donate a Thursday afternoon.

New Neal Morse album, Flying Colors, and new Transatlantic all in 2012? Neal is on a roll. It seems all the TA-related guys (well, Portnoy's not in DT but...) are coming out with new albums this year or recording this year.

Yeah, Roine has said something to the effect that touring the Whirlwind made him more money than all the Flower Kings tours combined. Of course, since just about all those tours lost money, that's not surprising.

The album sales for TA have helped fund Flower Kings albums in the past, and probably have something to do with why a new one is being recorded now. Roine funds all the Flower Kings activities and pays the other band members a salary for their time spent recording and touring. Obviously Mike made more money with DT, and Pete with Marillion. Not sure about Neal, though he doesn't have as many people involved with his solo albums, so that may help him make a bit more on those than Roine does on FK albums.

Anyone heard anything about the new album? This is all I've found, from Neal's forum:

Neal Morse wrote:

Hi all,

I understand that there's some confusion about why I am having auditions
for new band members. I thought maybe I should make a statement so people can
understand where i am coming from. The basic thing is that I get offers to do
lots of different events and many times I can't do them because the costs are
too high or people are not available. Having large bands like I had last year
both in the US and Europe makes it rather cost prohibitive to do different
events, particularly one-off events.

Also, my new album, "Momentum", is a bit pared down, It doesn't have
a lot of strings or orchestration, so I was already thinking about putting a
new band together that was smaller. So, I'm trying to put a band together that
is more local and also where everybody can play this material and sing it. A
killer 5 piece!

I love my Testimony 2 bands in the U.S.
and Europe very much! What excellent musicians and great people! So, this is
nothing against any of them, rather that I would be able to be more mobile and
able to visit more places and do more concerts.

I hope you all understand and I hope
that this hasn't hurt anyone. I don't mean to seem disloyal to anyone, I am
just wanting to do something a little bit different this year.

i would love to see Transatlantic tour and record. hope roine is up for it. i know he says it's a tiring gig.

I don't know too much about it, but it seemed to me that in most interviews that I saw with Neal and Roine, there was a certain... "coldness"? between the two of them. Does anybody know what I mean? Maybe I'm seeing it completely wrong, but I was actually rather surprised that they continued to make albums and tour together, because in the interviews that I've seen, they didn't seem like two people who would like to work together too much.

Also I think with Neal it's always a risky thing to look into the future and predict what he's going to do. I've followed his activities for some time now, weren't we all surprised (himself included, according to his book) when he left both spocks and transatlantic? Surprised to see him return with a prog album only little time later? Rejoined Transatlantic? He writes in his book that he never knows what he's going to do next, and asks God for counsel. He said he has nothing planned out, and is completely open for everything, even if it means to stop playing prog at all, or open a school for blind children, or writing a book (which he claims was a big surprise for him). I really hope that they're going to do another album together, and that I'll be finally able to see them live this time, but with Neal involved I wouldn't count on it ;)

"I want you to know that you and I... are not all that different. I mean, I, too, am a neat guy. And I, too, am just a love machine."
-Friends

I haven't noticed this "coldness" you speak of. Roine is a very soft spoken guy most of the time, and not nearly as outgoing as Neal, so maybe that is what you saw? I don't know, most of the bonus footage on the Whirld Tour DVD makes it seem like they all love working together. Roine has said he enjoys working with Neal many times on the Flower Kings Yahoo group (I don't follow Neal at all, so I don't know what he has said, other than some interviews and the DVD bonus stuff).

There was an interview where someone asked him why he joined, if he was a fan of Dream theater or Marillion, and his response was "I've never listened to those bands, but I wanted to build a new studio, so I guess the reason was... money?"

And there was also the bit where he was explaining to Mike as he was drinking a Sprite, that if you take the e off of Sprite it says "Sprit" which is Swedish for alcohol.

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